Aspire Higher

Summer opens up opportunities for spiritual growth that the school year cannot. Whether it's girlscamp or just a day at the temple, I will always enjoy finding ways to feel the spirit this summer. While having adventures and finding a job and such are important things about summer, don't let your priorities get messed up, don't let a day pass you where you have neglected to take the time to feel the spirit in your life.

Not all that is gold glitters.

Well JRR Tolkien says that  "not all that is gold glitters" but there has been a lot of gold in my life lately, so I thought I'd better decide what glitters and what doesn't.

Gold that does glitter:

-My Divine Nature sign for New Beginnings

-The paper crowns Emily and I spray painted

-The Jars Emily and I are using

-The hipster banner I made

-Basically everything I have prepared for New Beginnings

Gold that doesn't glitter:

-Trips to St. George with my family

-Pizza runs on fridays

-The combination of good shoes and well done hair

-Planning lessons on who you are

-Advertising and Commercial art

-Weeks full of simple joys to get me through

Please enjoy your week and watch for the gold that doesn't glitter. I know it's hard, especially when you have 3 tests and a project within two days and drivers ed on top of that, but I think if you keep yourself close to God, He will get you through all that you can't on your own.

Stay gold Pony Boy.

Sunday Stories

Reasons Why Today Was Awesome:

1: I visited that beautiful place we all love^

2: I came home from my Grandma's house with a plate full of cookies and a pumpkin.

3: I decided to name the before mentioned pumpkin, Bingley.

4: I got my hair cut, this is always bitter sweet for me. 

5: My dad comes home tonight. 

6: I finally took a few pictures.

7: I forgot to put on makeup this morning and I just didn't care.

8: Sister missionary farewells. For the win.

9: Pride & Prejudice music always.

10: It was Sunday and Sundays are always awesome.

spiritual sunday- We are as the army of Heleman

(Via my journal on September 12)

           "What I want to talk about a little is the 2,000 stripling warriors. I was just imagining what it would be like to be one of the Nephites who fought along side them, what it would be like to see the miracles of not one of them being killed and the incredible strength of their faith. I think I would have believed that I could be delivered as they were delivered because they did not doubt. I think I would have tried to follow their example and not doubt but be saved. Thinking these things made me think of the war that I fight every day. The war against Satan, against sin and temptation. I can follow the example of the stripling warriors even though I do not fight along side them. I like how Heleman calls them his sons and then tells his actual sons to be like them in Heleman 5:12 'And now my sons, remember, remember, that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundations; that when the devil shall send forth His mighty winds yea, His shafts in the whirlwind, yea when all His hail and His mighty storms shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if me build they cannot fail.' Truly the 2,000 stripling warriors lived this principle and they never fell and so must we in our personal war against sin."

Hopefully you found something worth while in this post. I know that hard times will come and we must be faithful in order to have the protection we need to be delivered. Amen.

Spiritual Sunday: Giving away our burdens.

 Spiritual Sunday today is about being comforted. During summer seminary I had a lesson about Ammon, King Lamoni, and King Lamoni's father. The thing I love about this story is the subtle change in what King Lamoni's father finds important. In Alma 20:23, the king offers up to half of his kingdom to Ammon in exchange for his life. Then as he feels the spirit and desires to learn the gospel he offers to Aaron, Ammon's brother, all of his kingdom to receive the joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What does any of this have to do with being comforted? Hold on. 

         My favorite part of this whole idea of what the king will come up comes in Alma 22:18

"If thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee," Sometimes this is the hardest thing for us to give away. The great thing about King Lamoni's father was all he was willing to give away, so what are we willing to give away to know the Lord?

         May I make a suggestion? Maybe one of the most important things to give away are our burdens, our afflictions and our trials. "Come cast thy burden on the Lord and bear a song away." I get it, life is hard. Life is really really hard. There is so much that gets in our way, so much that tears us down. There is insecurity and doubt and pain. So may we, more often, turn to the Lord with our burdens and give them to Him. 

     "Let your hearts be comforted... Be still and know that I am God."

Spiritual Sunday-the Future is as Bright as Your Faith

I Nephi 4:6

"And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do."

This spiritual sunday post is going to be about faith. But not just any faith, faith for the future.

Hymns 153 reads "In the innocence of youth, we would all thy laws fulfill. Lead us in the way of truth, give us strength to do thy will."

There seems to be so much uncertainty around me. People wondering about their future, planning their future, changing their plans. It's very hard for me to think of what I want to be when I grow up. All I know is I want to make a difference of some kind to a world that seems so lost, I want to be a light. 

Today while reading the New Era I came across that scripture 1 Nephi 4:6. I realized then that I did not need to know my future, I just needed to follow the Spirit. "Heavenly Father has great trust and confidence in you and has and important mission for you to fulfill. He will help you as you turn to Him in prayer, listen for the promptings of the Spirit, obey the commandments, and keep the covenants that you have made." -Fulfilling Your Duty to God.

I know that His grace is sufficient to make more out of my life than I can ever dream to make out of it. All i can do is try and prepare for the future, by following His commandments and trying to better love and serve others. If I have faith in Him, I know that my future will be bright. 

"All our follies, Lord forgive. Keep us from temptations free. Help us ever more to live lives of holiness to thee." (Hymns 153)

Amen.

Spiritual Sunday (a little late)

"Long ago you and I were born as daughters (or sons) in our Heavenly Father’s family. … Each one of you was a valiant and noble woman (or man) in your premortal life."

-CAROL B. THOMAS

Just a quick reminder that we are all children of our Heavenly Father. We are joint-heirs with Christ, the King of Kings. We are of great worth and who we are in this life does not change our soul's true identity. 

On having a broken heart

Remember when I used to do spiritual Sunday posts?

No?

Oh. Let me remind you:

"Broken chains set free

Broken swords bring peace

Broken walls make friends of you and me

To break the ranks of sin

To break the news of Him

To put on Christ until His name feels broken in

Broken souls that need His mending

Broken hearts for offering

I'm convinced that God loves broken things."

-Kenneth Cope

My thoughts today are on being broken. On a broken heart and a contrite spirit. I never understood that term before, I thought having a "broken heart" was a bad thing. That it meant sadness and despair. Then my mother gave me the analogy that to have a "broken heart" is more like being a "broken horse" you are obedient and humble. To offer up a "broken heart" is to be obedient to the Lord and what He wants from us. Just as a broken horse obeys his master and follows him, so must we obey out Master and follow Him. 

bro·ken  

/ˈbrōkən

a. Subdued totally; humbled: a broken heart.

Spiritual Sunday-Thoughts on the Theme

"Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen."

(D/C 87:8)

"Standing in holy places is all about being in good company, whether you are alone or with others. It’s being where the Holy Ghost is our companion—alone or in a crowd."

-Sharon G. Larson

If we are to "be not moved" from our holy places, then we need to create a holy place wherever we go.

Spiritual Sunday

"If this isn't your castle, then you're not my prince"

I'm going to try and keep this short and sweet today. 

Dear boys of the world,

Respect is the most attractive thing you can do.

Respect your priesthood.

Respect women.

Respect the church.

Respect yourself.

Dear girls of the world, 

Keep looking. 

You can do better. 

Wait for respect.

Amen.

After my Sunday afternoon nap:

I guess I can nap and do a spiritual post. 

In case you didn't know this before, I am a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I've never really shared much about what I believe here, even though it is a really big part of my life. I intend to change that. I shared a little about General Conference, but now I want to share with you more. Warning: there are a lot of words coming. 

This man is Elder Neil L. Anderson. During the most resent General Conference, Elder Anderson gave a talk called "It's a Miracle", it's about missionary work. One of the things that really stood out about it to me was this quote: 

If you’re not a full-time missionary with a missionary badge pinned on your coat, now is the time to paint one on your heart—painted, as Paul said, “not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.”

Elder Anderson spoke a lot on the miracle of the missionaries who responded to President Monson's call for younger missionaries. But what really touched my heart was how he talked about how each of us can be missionaries in our own homes and how we live.

Elder Anderson shared the example of how when Christ was asked where he lived, he responded to "come and see"

"I like to think that the Savior was saying, 'Come and see not only where I live but how I live. Come and see who I am. Come and feel the Spirit.'"

I know that we need to share the gospel by how we live. We need to share the gospel by the words we use and the jokes we make. We need to share the gospel by how we treat others and how we treat ourselves. 

Today in Sunday School we talked about Pure Doctrine. Our teacher taught us that there are three kinds of doctrine: pure doctrine, the world's doctrine, and the most dangerous doctrine of all, the doctrine that is somewhere in between. How well we preach the gospel is determined by the kind of  doctrine we partake of. If we live the pure doctrine, then our lives will be a blessing and a testimony to those around us. 

I guess I'll close this with a testimony because that seems the proper thing to do. I know that if we make those small changes in our life to choose pure doctrine instead of the "in between doctrine" then we will have The Spirit more fully in our lives to bear witness to those around us. 

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you for a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:"

-1 Peter 3:15

Amen

Lately

Leather journals

Distracted by pine trees

The mountain call

Lions and Tigers

50 markers scattered on the floor

alliteration, alliteration, alliteration

Harry Potter five

Be Still my Soul

Polka dots

Sweaters that remind me of warm bread

High waisted skirts

Strawberry mango yogurt 

Hymn book poetry

Bye bye inversion

Hopeless wanderer

Guilty pleasures

The day of rest

why this new curriculum rocks

I am a fan of the new curriculum. 

Something always means more when it comes out of your own mouth. 

My Sunday school class has made a huge change.

Jaron has good comments instead of randomly shouting "I like food" on fast Sundays.

People volunteer to say the prayer without anyone reminding them that it will make their future spouse more attractive.

Me and Cole quote Scripture Scouts (well that isn't actually new) because it always has the answer. 

The new kid doesn't sit in the corner terrified of all 27 of us sarcastic kids, he talks, and has good stuff to say. 

We stop using dry humor to answer the teachers questions. Well, most of the questions. 

We behave and can get through a whole lesson. 

I've never been excited for Sunday school before, but lately, it kind of rocks. 

The church is true and the men who came up with this way of teaching are inspired. 

I am so grateful that they think of us enough to find ways to make going to church a more sacred and learning experience. 

TGISS

(Thank Goodness It's Sunday School) 

fun Sundays

I like hanging out with cousins on Sundays.

First of all me and Ethan (top) go "ghost hunting" in my grandparents back yard.

Then at my uncle Glens house me and my cousins go "exploring"

We find a port-a-potty and a tree house. 

Plus it doesn't hurt that it is a 3 day weekend. 

Cheers.